Orally-fit Manilanyos by 2030.
This, according to Mayor Honey Lacuna, this is what her administration hopes to achieve as she and Manila Health Department chief Dr. Arnold ‘Poks’ Pangan led a citywide campaign to promote awareness on the importance of oral health care.
Lacuna, a doctor, stressed the importance of letting the students know at the very early stages of their lives that having a healthy set of teeth and mouth is highly significant as it will also help shape their future.
Apart from avoiding illnesses that are borne by lack or wrong kind of oral hygiene, Lacuna said that having healthy mouths and teeth can also build confidence, noting how children, and even adults, develop insecurity if they have teeth that are problematic or visibly defective.
The program, dubbed, ‘Orally Fit Manilenyo,’ aims to drum up support from barangays and educational institutions to help the city government in creating early awareness on the need to practice oral hygiene and keep the mouth and teeth healthy.
It was learned from Pangan that barangay day care pre-schoolers and public school learners are the primary targets of the said information campaign, in an effort to make oral health care a habit among the children, so that they would carry it until such time that they reach adulthood.
“Your servant led the launch of this wonderful program that aims to provide sufficient knowledge and awareness to every barangay day care pre-schoolers and public school learners on the proper care and hygiene of teeth and mouth so that by the year 2030 is that we can achieve the dream for everyone to become Orally Fit Manilenyo,” said Lacuna.
She added: “Nothing is impossible with true cooperation and empathy. For Orally Fit Manilenyo, let’s work together to protect our Manila Children in the proper care and hygiene of teeth and mouth so that by the year 2030 we can achieve the dream for everyone to become Orally Fit Manilenyo.”
The lady mayor thanked the Department of Health, Division of City Schools-Manila headed by Superintendent Magdalena Lim and the MHD under Pangan, for their cooperation and support.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pangan said that six lucky students from the various public schools in the city were given free braces, still under the said program that was launched by the mayor.
Pangan expressed hope that more sponsors will come forward to help children who need braces, as he expressed gratitude to the mayor, Vice Mayor Yul Servo-Nieto and the entire Asenso Manilenyo party for their support.
Also, Pangan commended the dentists who assisted in the program and said that by next year, the MHD aims to cover more children who need braces to help correct problems like crowding, crooked or misaligned teeth. (Baby Cuevas)
